Dcfs And Cops Run Into Wall At Church

Refusal To Release List Hampers Abuse Probe

WHEELING — Officially, no one--not the police, not the state's child-welfare agency--is prepared to say that something awful has been happening to children behind the walls of Wheeling's Calvary Presbyterian Church. There is no proof, no physical evidence, no victim testimonials.

But there are reports, taken by the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and Wheeling police, alleging that young girls have been repeatedly fondled at the church by an elderly former employee.

Whatever the facts are, they are hidden behind a legal wall that investigators complain was thrown up by the church nearly two months ago to block access to possible victims. And if the church prevails in a lawsuit now being heard in Cook County Circuit Court, authorities fear that the truth never will be known.

DCFS and the Illinois attorney general's office filed a lawsuit Sept. 10 against Calvary Presbyterian seeking to compel the church and its pastor, Rev. Chun Chang, to hand over a list of names of parents and their children who attended a summer day camp run by the all-Korean church.

Without those names, authorities say, they are powerless to investigate allegations that the former worker sexually abused a number of those children over the past two years, before leaving the church this summer and possibly fleeing to Korea.

The church says the list is private. To keep it that way, attorney Samuel Shim, in what officials describe as an extraordinary use of clergy privilege, is invoking state laws and legal precedents normally reserved to protect ministers from revealing details of pastoral counseling sessions.

The church's defense has stumped investigators as well as legal observers, who said they are unaware of any similar cases where a church has stalled such a criminal investigation.

"If you've been wrongfully accused, you want to clear your name. And if you're not wrongfully accused, you may want to cooperate for a whole host of other reasons," said Jeanette Tamayo, the deputy chief legal counsel for DCFS. "They have put up barriers each and every step of the way, which is extremely unusual. Most people, even teachers, cooperate with a DCFS investigation."

She added: "We have followed every lead that has been made available to us. It stopped at the church door, and we can't get beyond that. We don't know if we have one child victim, no child victim or more than one child victim. We don't know. But by the same token, not knowing the one side, we don't know the flip side, and we can't tolerate not knowing."

The initial complaint was taken over the phone by Wheeling Police Sgt. Tony Cinquegrani on July 22. A woman called with secondhand information alleging that the elderly church worker had been fondling young girls attending a summer youth camp.

Wheeling Deputy Police Chief Michael Hermes said youth officers were sent to the church two days after the call and came upon two young girls. Hermes said the officers began chatting with the girls, ages 3 and 4, and quizzed them about the elderly church worker.

"Yes," said the younger girl, according to Hermes. "That's the one who used to grab my fanny."

Shim, the church's lawyer, said investigators have received the full cooperation of church leaders. Calvary's top pastors agreed to be questioned about the case, he said, and gave officers the name of the former worker. Church leaders also agreed to let police interview parents and children as they arrived and departed the church, Shim said.

But when it comes to the list, he believes investigators are unnecessarily trampling on the privacy of the church and its members.

"We believe that the information they are requesting is privileged," Shim said. "Police have other avenues they can pursue. They're the experts. They don't need me to tell them how to go about doing that."

Referring to the children's parents, Shim said, "There are other parties that are involved in this privilege equation that are asking us not to (reveal their names)."

Thomas Ciecko, an assistant Illinois attorney general who filed the suit on behalf of DCFS, said Shim's argument is groundless.

"You can't force a clergyman to divulge what was confessed to him if it's made in the course of the religion," Ciecko said. "It's very far from what we have here. What we have here is not a disclosure or anything that was made in the context of something spiritual."

William Spain, a spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, agreed, saying even churches lack the right to shield employees from child-abuse investigations.

A man at Calvary Presbyterian, who declined to provide his name but said he was the assistant pastor who coordinated the summer program, defended the church's actions, saying the former worker's grandfatherly affection for children may have been misinterpreted by outsiders.

The children, who called the former worker "Grandpa," would charge toward the elderly man, who often scooped them up into his arms, the assistant pastor said.

"He expressed his love toward the little children, not a sexual expression," the assistant pastor said. "Someone told the police he was hugging and touching them, but he was not. . . . We feel very sorry for our church, and we want to protect our church."

Calvary Presbyterian, an independent congregation established 25 years ago, is considered one of the most established Korean churches in the Chicago area, said Janet Kim, manager of Korean-American Community Services in Chicago, a non-profit social services agency.